Specialty Doctor is a contract for
doctor
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
s working in
hospitals in the UK NHS. The previous grades of Staff Grade and Associate Specialist were subsumed into this new grade when it was introduced in 2008. The Specialty Doctor role requires four years postgraduate experience, two in specialty, although many Specialty Doctors now have more than this. In 2021 a new senior contract for Specialty Doctors to progress to, the "Specialist" was introduced.
There are more than 9,000 Specialty Doctors in the
UK and you are very likely to be seen by one if admitted to the care of a hospital specialist. Most report to a
consultant but have many years of specialty experience and they are employed on a contract similar to that for consultants. Specialty Doctors usually perform more direct
patient care
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...
than their consultant colleagues as they are not normally involved in
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includ ...
, yet will generally have more experience and skills than the majority of their colleagues in the training grades.
References
{{Reflist
External links
The SAS Grades - background history - The British Medical Association , Wayback Machine* http://www.nhsemployers.org/PayAndContracts/MedicalandDentalContracts/StaffAndAssociateSpecialistDrs/Pages/AssociateSpecialists-Homepage.aspx
National Health Service
Healthcare occupations in the United Kingdom